The python is a resident of the Alice Springs Reptile Centre, where employees report the snake was attempting a routine skin-molting. That’s something that snakes normally do; what they don’t normally do is accidentally crawl back into their outgoing garb.

Reminiscent of a dog chasing its tail (but a little more depressing to watch), the snake traveled around – and around, and around – in a perfect circle, inside its own skin. For three hours.

“It actually looks like a steering wheel. Have been in the reptile business a long time and have never seen anything quite like it,” a reptile center employee wrote on Facebook.

Finally, the python broke free of his epidermal prison, leaving a near-perfect snakeskin donut behind. According to the Alice Springs Reptile Centre, the snake is perfectly fine after the ordeal, and has resumed its normal activities. (On a side note, this story leaves me wondering why none of these employees helped the creature. They did have three hours to do so, after all.)